The quartet consists of FOI, the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI), the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) and the National Food Administration. Their specialities cover such diverse subjects as human medicine, veterinary medicine, animal feed, food for human consumption, drinking water, pathogens in environmental samples, and bioforensic analysis. They have established this forum for for sharing knowledge and for mutual support in their work with infectious substances of risk class 3, substances that may cause lethal but curable diseases. The forum is financed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).

The Forum for Biopreparedness Diagnostics was established as a consequence of the anthrax letter scare after the 9/11 events in 2001. The Swedish evaluation of the events revealed a need for interagency coordination, particularly in times of extreme workloads.

During a crisis the forum facilitates coordination and distribution of samples for making analyses between the participants. The intention is to relieve a particular agency if it is overburdened and to ensure that specialist knowledge is easily accessible for all participating agencies.

In December 2008, the forum was activated for the first time in a live crisis, when a farm in Halland country was suffering from an outbreak of anthrax.
”SVA identified and isolated the anthrax bacteria. SMI verified the test results and we at FOI got soil samples, through which we could verify the presence of infectious substances in the soil. Later we were also able to specify the exact type of anthrax,” says Mats Forsman, FOI researcher and forum chairman since January 2010. The chair is manned by each agency in turn.

During non-crisis periods, the agencies’ laboratories collaborate in a joint venture to share research and expertise in three major fields: method development, materiel and exercises. Knowledge is collected on separate server, where it is kept in the Wikipedia format and is accessible to employees with the appropriate security clearance. According to Mats Forsman, this strengthens FOI’s capability:

”We get a better access to open source intelligence, we are able to continuously upgrade our methods and we will fill gaps in our knowledge much swifter.” The collaboration has achieved more than was expected. Now it may be possible to initiate further partners and specialties. “The military is interested in joining with their mobile labs. Currently we work only with bacteria, but we are talking about broadening the perspective to include viruses,” concludes Mats Forsman.